I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve been learning a lot about BIG trucks this week! As your parents told you though, too much of a good thing can lead to indigestion! So, if you’re feeling a little Big Trucked-out, let me offer you an antidote in the form of the little truck that thinks it’s big, the Suzuki Jimny SJ40 trucklette. Now known as the Suzuki Farm Worker, the SJ is still available new here in Middle Earthuh New Zealand. And the LOTR reference is apt, as the SJ does look and feel like it’s been around since Frodo was a little Hobbitkins. So gather ’round the Party Tree CCers, let’s go for a journey into Suzukishire, postcode SJ.

The tale of little Jimny the SJ40 began in Japan in 1968, when the Hope Motor Company released their HopeStar ON360. Shown here is a pre-production ON360 with Hope’s entire workforce–note how the entire Marketing Department, carrying the extensive marketing equipment, is kitted out in red. You’ll also observe that the entire After-Sales Department at the right is brandishing the ON360’s standard comprehensive repair kit.

Initially Mitsubishi-based, the HopeStar ON360 sales were hopeStarless, and Suzuki bought the design late in 1968. In later years Suzuki swapped the HopeStar ON360 brand name with GM, receiving a couple of lightly used Daewoos in return. GM then rearranged the brand name to create their much-vaunted OnStar Hope360 (“Giving You Hope, 360 Days Of The Year!“) system, known more commonly as OnStar. I may have made that up. Something that isn’t made up though, is the instant recognition and success brought to Suzuki by 1969’s HopeStar, now known as the Suzuki LJ. The LJ featured a Hope-free body and an 18kW Suzuki powerhouse treadmill in place of the 15.4kW Mitsi power plant hamster wheel.

As the 1970s progressed, the LJ likewise progressed, gaining a variety of different body styles and larger engines. The final iteration of the LJ was 1977’s LJ80. It boasted a whole 31kW (41hp) and was finally able to win traffic-light races against elderly ladies on Raleigh 20 bicycles. Downhill. With a tailwind. If there was an ‘r’ in the month. And the headlights weren’t draining the battery.

David Saunders found the multi-indicatored LJ80 above back in 2011/12, and gave us an interesting post on it here. It was a 1980 model, right at the tail-end of gen 1 production.

The LJ’s successor, the SJ series, was launched in 1981. As with its predecessor, the SJ was available in a very wide array of variations. To add to the confusion, the SJ was also offered under a wider variety of names, including the well-known Samurai, the less-well-known Sierra, and the I’ve-never-heard-of-them Caribbean, Katana, Potohar and Santana. In some parts of the world the SJ was also sold as a Chevrolet; in Australia and here in NZ it could be had as a Holden Drover; in India it was the Maruti Gypsy.

Cher wrote about her Indian experiences with the Maruti variants in the song “Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves.” Did anyone fall for that? If you did, I Got You (Babe)!

An SJ has featured on CC previously, in 2013, when Gonzalo Tampier wrote about his 1988 Suzuki Jimny SJ413 LWB hardtop. Pictured above, it was his first car, and carried him around Chile and Argentina.

Gonzalo wrote that the LWB variants were never as popular as the SWB, and that’s something that was true for most of the world. The exception was the Indian market, where the only Jimny built by Maruti-Suzuki was the LWB. Regardless of wheelbase, wikipedia would have you believe the SJ shuffled off this mortal coil in 1998. They lie through words!! In actual fact, Maruti-Suzuki is still producing the LWB SJ trucklette in India. Targeted at South East Asia, it’s also offered in New Zealand as the Suzuki Farm Worker.

The SJ has always been popular with Kiwi farmers, who use them like a large quad bike or a small tractor. Some farmers I knew had an 80s SJ which I drove a couple of times in the mid 2000s. It was light yet tough, and I completely underestimated how easily it could laugh its way through the muddy quagmires we pointed it at. I ended up deeply impressed by how seriously capable it was off-road. The words “off-road” are key nowadays, as the Farm Worker trucklette is no longer allowed on New Zealand roads. Changing regulations mean the new models are for off-road use only. Consequently the target market is restricted, yet sales still tick along.

“I’m a little trucklette, short and stout…”

The Mazda dealer 300 metres from my house also does a nice sideline in Suzuki farm bikes and the Farm Worker. On the lot earlier this week were this silver Wellside…

…this white Flatdeck (with MG413 badging, an update from the original SJ413), and the Flatdeck at the top of the page.

Also available is the NZ$14K Versatile trucklette (above left) that has longitudinal bench seats in the back, no roof and a fold-flat windscreen. If sir or m’am would prefer a steel bulkhead and no rear seats with your folding windscreen, the Multi Purpose (above right) is an extra NZ$1.5K. So for 1,500 bucks more you get less seats, someone in marketing scored a double bonus for pulling that off!

It’s got a heater? Pfffft, harden up sissies…

One thing that all the trucklette variations have in common is the somewhat basic interior, minus carpet and radio. It does come with a decent sized ashtray, but BYO lighter. But look how easy it would be to hose out! Note the material strap serving as the door stay in the Farm Worker above. Although the strap looks cheap, judge ye not, as it actually un-clips, allowing the doors to be removed quickly and easily.

Suzuki badge (top) and Maruti badge (bottom), being photobombed by your intrepid author’s ruggedly handsome features and a small silver apple.

I don’t know how long the Farm Worker will remain on the market, considering that it’s illegal for on road use. But whatever your trucklette needs, Suzuki has an SJ Farm Worker to suit, so I suspect it’ll be pounding the paddocks for a while yet! Let’s face it: quad bikes don’t have windscreen wipers.

When Suzuki rolled out the SJ in May 1981, Kim Carnes was #1 on the music charts with “Bette Davis Eyes”. The song stayed at the top for 9 weeks. The Jimny SJ has hung around the car sales charts for 33 years and counting. That sort of longevity proves it’s still the Little Trucklette That Can.

The ones imported to the US were called Mini Brutes, my dad bought a new ’72 model in ’74 that turned out to be a total turd. That pile couldn’t circumnavigate our block without breaking down. The dealer ended up buy that little pile back.

Not popular on hill country though these roll really easily but yeah they will go most places several competitors used SJs in the XT Reidrubber off road series racing over obstacles great in mud but steep going nah.

One , Farming is inherently deadly , I’m one of those few who got out alive , no missing fingers , toes/feet/arms etc. although my scars look bad .

Farmers know this and accept it , most mechanized Farming machinery is dangerous stuff that’ll kill or cripple you before you can blink .

The other half of this is : if you allow the application of license tags , just to go to that other set of fields 3 miles down the road carrying a bed full of fence posts and bob wire , you also know darn good and well than when the job is done said Farm Worker is going to look at the sun and say ” well , I might as well go into town and pick up the mail and have a beer/soda/lunch… ”

Never mind the guys like me who’ll buy and register it then _immediately_ press it into daily driver status nowhere near any Farming .

So , they’re sort of stuck . crying ‘ nanny state ‘ is BS IMO .

I know of a few few Mitsubishi Trucklets here in Los Angeles that have license tags and are driven on the street , I have no idea how they managed that but I’d love one of the early full bodied Suzukis like the blue one shown here .

Here in PR most of the early ones have had their engines swapped for the later Samurai 1.3, Datsun 210, early 80s Corolla and even Mazda rotary engines. I do remember that the ones sold in the late 80s, early 90s could be purchased with factory AC installed just before the were discontinued. This are really popular also with the off road people or as a “cheap” weekend convertible. And I put cheap in quotes because I have seen really nice ones sold for as high as $7000.00 to $9000.00 dollars.

Interesting read! As a lover of all things short wheelbase, open topped and 4×4, Ive had a soft spot for the ‘jeep larvae’ for some time.

But you mention these are outlawed on the roads in NZ….any explanation for this? I don’t doubt you and I CERTAINLY have 100% faith in the stupidity of anyone making the rules. But whats the reasoning for this? And would the outlaw apply to older Suzuki’s? If you owned an LJ-80 for example and it was your daily driver, do you just wake up one morning and your rig isn’t allowed on the road? Or is it only for new ones built after the law?

Ive test driven a Sammy once when I was between Jeeps..about 1994 I think. Seemed like fun and all but it is NOT meant for a 6’1 250 lb tower of man meat. Jeeps are compact but a beefy dude can find comfort in a CJ-7. Even the sawed off CJ-5 fit me better. I will say that it wasn’t anywhere near as tipsy as consumer reports would have you believe. They are NOT car people and I wouldn’t trust them to roadtest a big wheel.

Suzuki have numerous mentions on their website and in the brochure that “The Farmworker range has been developed to operate as an off-road vehicle only and consequently is not able to be registered for road use.”

Although not stated by Suzuki, there are two clear reasons they’re likely illegal. First is the engine, Suzuki’s G13BB, which doesn’t meet our emission requirements. Second is they don’t meet passenger car safety standards.

Upon launch in 2011, Farm Workers were able to be registered under a ‘Class B exemption’, which allowed farmers to drive them via public road from one part of their farm to another. The New Zealand Transport Association (NZTA) decided in September 2013 that they were not eligible for Class B exemption and cancelled the registration of any that had received Class B registration. Oddly this enraged a number of owners, who say the Farm Worker should be in the same class as farm bikes and tractors. The NZTA disagrees, stating the Farm Worker’s “…design meets the legal definition of a passenger or goods vehicle, not an agricultural machine. As such it cannot be registered unless it meets the appropriate safety standards”.

This only applies to the models released new in 2011 and beyond. Older Jimny/SJ owners are unaffected.

Yeah, product safety law suck. I for one strip out seat belts and airbags on every car I buy. I also like to buy bathtub gin as the thrill of maybe going blind makes it all the more intoxicating.

Scott McPherson (aka NZ Skyliner)

Posted February 8, 2014 at 4:46 PM

Those airbags must fetch good money on eBay… 😉 In the Farm Worker case, I do think the law is making an ass of itself. I totally agree the Suzi isn’t safe or clean enough for normal road use, but disallowing them the Class B exemption given to less-safe side-by-side ATVs, quad bikes and tractors seems a little blinkered.

Interesting Scott I was not aware of this. One imagines they might have a hard time enforcing this if you were to make one look like an old Sierra. I saw a video last year of a road test of a new Lada Niva in the UK, I think it was sold through an agricultural equipment dealer.

My grandfather had a Sierra ute about 30 years ago, I think it was a lwb but can’t be sure – and I don’t think there would have been any photos taken of it as a piece of farm equipment. It is hard to find many lwb hardtops now let alone utes.

Thanks to our fairly stringent standards, it wouldn’t be particularly easy or cost effective to get one road legal-ish. One idea suggested by the Suzuki club is to use the chassis of an older, legal, Jimny/SJ and re-body/engine it with the new one’s body and engine. It would then legally be the year of the donor chassis though, which would affect value and insurance. Certification would be required for the re-bodying, but I imagine it would be achievable. Kiwis are pretty canny, so I’m sure some have done this already!

That’s similar to what they were doing in the USA at one time to legally import Mexican Beatles. You supplied your old VW to a company that basically stripped it of all of the old components leaving the bare chassis, and installed all the components from a new Mexican car to it. Since the car continued to be registered under the vin number of the old chassis you could legally use your new “old” car. It was considered a complete restoration.

Here are the specs of it. It has a rip-roaring 60kW (80hp) now! No a/c available and the rear window is optional, but it can come with a “Big-sounding Sony” stereo. Payload and towing capacity are 500kg, which is pretty darn reasonable considering its diminutive size.

In 1979, in Guam, a friend of mine had one (sort of) like the blue one in picture number three. Didn’t know about the hopeless history but confirm it was a two stroke. Vehicles sold there did not seem to depend on Fed approval which seems strange considering their relationship to the country.

What the farm trucks remind me of that one sees all over Texas are the golf course trucks by Mitsubishi and anybody from China. Golf courses, resort properties, etc. Anywhere they don’t need to go on the road. They would certainly do everything I need for my property but couldn’t take it to the hardware store or feed store. Bureaucrats need to lighten up.

I forgot to mention, but the Suzuki Carry trucklette is also available here. Not from Suzuki though, and similarly illegal for onroad use. Unlike the Farm Worker, the Carry is available with a/c! The one below is at a dealer 30km from me (their photos, not mine)

The SJ410 was very popular on Vancouver Island when I was a kid. Suzuki sold them for for $5600 and they were wildly popular with the hunting/fishing set. They could get into places bigger trucks couldn’t get near and climbed like billy-goats due to the short wheelbase.

A high school friend of mine was killed in one as the body was about a strong as a pop can

Great story. As mentioned by Scott and shown in the 4th picture, it was my first car and I loved it both for its serious off road capabilities and its kind of friendly looks (like always saying to me: hey dude, let’s go for an offroad ride!”).
Some additional history about late samurais: In the late nineties and until 2005 or 2006, some spanish Samurais arrived here (both SWB and LWB), with Renault and then Peugeot diesel engines. These were built by Santana S.A. in Linares (Spain). This small manufacturer started building licensed Land Rovers in the sixties, and then Suzukis in the nineties. I loved the concept of such a combination (lightweight 4×4 + small, efficient diesel engine). Sadly, they struggled with permanent quality issues and were not beloved by their owners. In 2011, Santana closed its doors, being the last spanish, locally owned vehicle manufacturer over there.

The Pre-Samurai SJ 410s were available new in Hawaii and Guam. I looked at an LJ in 1980 (allegedly, you were not allowed to send them to the U.S. Mainland) and my former BIL had an ’82 SJ (little tiny four banger by then – sub 1 Litre). They could go just about anywhere. Unfortunately, these things rusted to bits – fast – in the tropical, sea/salt air.

Used BIL’s as our dive/fishing vehicle in Guam. 50 mph was living dangerously!